Method and apparatus to facilitate picking up a retail item

ABSTRACT

A central computer system for a retail shopping facility automatically determines that a customer having a retail item available for pickup at the facility is currently proximal to the facility and automatically responds by sending the customer a message that includes an opportunity for the customer to indicate that they will now pick up the retail item. Upon receiving information indicating that the customer utilized the aforementioned opportunity to indicate that they will now pick up the retail item, the central computer system can instigate a transmission of a message to at least one associate of the retail shopping facility to prompt the associate to move the retail item from a first area of the retail shopping facility (such as a non-public storage area) to a second area of the retail shopping facility (such as a designated pick-up area).

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/286,751, filed Jan. 25, 2016, and is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

These teachings relate generally to retail shopping facilities and moreparticularly to accommodating customers who visit the facility to pickup a previously- ordered item.

BACKGROUND

In a modern retail store environment, there is a need to improve thecustomer experience and/or convenience for the customer. With increasingcompetition from non- traditional shopping mechanisms, such as onlineshopping provided by e-commerce merchants and alternative store formats,it can be important for “bricks and mortar” retailers to focus onimproving the overall customer experience and/or convenience.

Some retailers permit a consumer to select a particular item online andto then arrange to pick up that item at a bricks-and-mortar shoppingfacility for that retailer. Such an approach is attractive to manyconsumers who prefer browsing product selections in a virtualenvironment. Ensuring that the selected item is suitably available atthe shopping facility in a manner that is both efficient and convenientfor pickup by the consumer, however, presents numerous challenges. Thesechallenges include a need to place the item in the consumer's possessionrapidly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above needs are at least partially met through provision of themethod and apparatus to facilitate picking up a retail item described inthe following detailed description, particularly when studied inconjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with variousembodiments of these teachings;

FIG. 2 comprises a block diagram as configured in accordance withvarious embodiments of these teachings;

FIG. 3 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with variousembodiments of these teachings; and

FIG. 4 comprises a screen shot as configured in accordance with variousembodiments of these teachings.

Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity andhave not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensionsand/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures maybe exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improveunderstanding of various embodiments of the present teachings. Also,common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in acommercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order tofacilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of thepresent teachings. Certain actions and/or steps may be described ordepicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in theart will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence isnot actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have theordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressionsby persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above exceptwhere different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally speaking, pursuant to these various embodiments, a centralcomputer system for a retail shopping facility automatically determinesthat a customer having a retail item available for pickup at the retailshopping facility is currently proximal to the retail shopping facilityand automatically responds to that determination by sending the customera message that includes an opportunity for the customer to indicate thatthey will now pick up the retail item at the retail shopping facility.The central computer system may, for example, compare a present locationof the customer (as provided by a mobile communications device that isassociated with the customer) to a predetermined distance threshold tothereby determined the aforementioned proximity.

By one approach the aforementioned retail item comprises an item thatthe customer ordered via an online shopping service.

By one approach, and upon receiving information indicating that thecustomer utilized the aforementioned opportunity to indicate that theywill now pick up the retail item at the retail shopping facility, thecentral computer system can instigate a transmission of a message to atleast one associate of the retail shopping facility to prompt theassociate to move the retail item from a first area of the retailshopping facility (such as a non-public storage area) to a second areaof the retail shopping facility (such as a designated pick-up area). Ifdesired, the central computer system can maintain a history regardingthe duration of time utilized when making the retail item available forpickup by the customer at the retail shopping facility.

These teachings are highly flexible in practice and will accommodate avariety of modifications as desired. For example, the aforementionedthreshold can be selectively set to include essentially only the retailshopping facility itself and its dedicated parking area(s). By anotherapproach the aforementioned threshold can be selectively set to include,for example, one or more nearby vehicular thoroughfares and/or otherretail shopping facilities or buildings.

So configured, a customer can be apprised of when an item they haveordered is available for pickup at a time when the customer isrelatively close at hand and hence the opportunity may be a highlyconvenient one. In addition, these teachings facilitate beginning theprocess of providing the ordered item for pickup by the customer priorto when the customer physically presents himself as a designated pick-uparea for this purpose. As a result the customer can save time tocomplete this activity.

These and other benefits may become clearer upon making a thoroughreview and study of the following detailed description. Referring now tothe drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, an illustrative process 100that is compatible with many of these teachings will now be presented.For the sake of an illustrative example it will be presumed here that acentral computer system of choice carries out the actions, steps, and/orfunctions of this process 100. FIG. 2 provides an illustrative examplein these regards.

The illustrative example presented in FIG. 2 includes a retail shoppingfacility 200. This retail shopping facility 200 comprises a retail salesfacility or any other type of bricks-and-mortar (i.e., physical)facility in which products are physically displayed and offered for saleto customers who physically visit the facility. The shopping facilitymay include one or more of sales floor areas, checkout locations (i.e.,point of sale (POS) locations), customer service areas other thancheckout locations (such as service areas to handle returns), parkinglocations, entrance and exit areas, stock room areas, stock receivingareas, hallway areas, common areas shared by merchants, and so on. Thefacility may be any size of format facility, and may include productsfrom one or more merchants. For example, a facility may be a singlestore operated by one merchant or may be a collection of stores coveringmultiple merchants such as a mall.

In this particular example, the retail shopping facility 200 includes acontrol circuit 201 that serves as the aforementioned central computersystem in this illustrative example. Being a “circuit,” the controlcircuit 201 therefore comprises structure that includes at least one(and typically many) electrically-conductive paths (such as pathscomprised of a conductive metal such as copper or silver) that conveyelectricity in an ordered manner, which path(s) will also typicallyinclude corresponding electrical components (both passive (such asresistors and capacitors) and active (such as any of a variety ofsemiconductor-based devices) as appropriate) to permit the circuit toeffect the control aspect of these teachings.

Such a control circuit 201 can comprise a fixed-purpose hard-wiredhardware platform (including but not limited to an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) (which is an integrated circuit that iscustomized by design for a particular use, rather than intended forgeneral-purpose use), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and thelike) or can comprise a partially or wholly-programmable hardwareplatform (including but not limited to microcontrollers,microprocessors, and the like). These architectural options for suchstructures are well known and understood in the art and require nofurther description here. This control circuit 201 is configured (forexample, by using corresponding programming as will be well understoodby those skilled in the art) to carry out one or more of the steps,actions, and/or functions described herein.

By one optional approach the control circuit 201 operably couples to amemory 202. This memory 202 may be integral to the control circuit 201or can be physically discrete (in whole or in part) from the controlcircuit 201 as desired. This memory 202 can also be local with respectto the control circuit 201 (where, for example, both share a commoncircuit board, chassis, power supply, and/or housing) or can bepartially or wholly remote with respect to the control circuit 201(where, for example, the memory 202 is physically located in anotherfacility, metropolitan area, or even country as compared to the controlcircuit 201).

In addition to other information of interest as described herein, thismemory 202 can serve, for example, to non-transitorily store thecomputer instructions that, when executed by the control circuit 201,cause the control circuit 201 to behave as described herein. (As usedherein, this reference to “non-transitorily” will be understood to referto a non-ephemeral state for the stored contents (and hence excludeslined the stored contents merely constitute signals or waves) ratherthan volatility of the storage media itself and hence includes bothnon-volatile memory (such as read-only memory (ROM) as well as volatilememory (such as an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM).)

In this example the control circuit 201 also operably couples to anetwork interface 203. So configured the control circuit 201 cancommunicate with other elements (both within the apparatus 200 andexternal thereto) via the network interface 203. Network interfaces,including both wireless and non-wireless platforms, are well understoodin the art and require no particular elaboration here.

In this illustrative example the retail shopping facility 200 includes aparking area 204. Parking areas are generally well-understood in the artand may comprise, for example, a paved and lined open expanse. Thepresent teachings are quite flexible in these regards and willaccommodate other parking area paradigms including, for example,underground parking facilities as well as multilevel parking facilities.

With continued reference to both FIGS. 1 and 2, at decision block 101the control circuit 201 automatically determines when a customer havinga retail item that is available for pickup at the retail shoppingfacility 200 is also currently proximal to the retail shopping facility200. Such a determination can be carried out in any of a variety ofways. FIG. 3 presents one illustrative example in these regards.

At block 301 the control circuit 201 receives information regarding thepresent location of a customer (reference numeral 205 in FIG. 2). By oneapproach, and as illustrated, the control circuit 201 receives thisinformation specifically from a mobile communications device 206 (suchas a so-called smart phone) that is associated with the customer. Thatmobile communications device 206 may be equipped with a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) capability by which the device 206 thenascertains its own present location and/or which provides locationinformation that the mobile communications device 206 can simply forward(for example, to the control circuit 201). As another approach in theseregards, the mobile communications device 206 may have a Wi-Ficapability by which the device 206 can again either ascertain its ownlocation and/or utilize for attachment purposes, where the attachmentitself provides inherent information regarding a general location of thedevice 206. These teachings will support other approaches in theseregards as well.

At decision block 302 the control circuit 201 can compare theaforementioned present location of the customer 205 against apredetermined distance threshold. That threshold can be set asappropriate to given application setting. By one approach thepredetermined distance threshold can comprise a radius from a centralreference point. By another approach the predetermined distancethreshold can comprise a distance from the periphery of a predeterminedarea.

By one approach, for example, that threshold (or thresholds) can serveto determine when the customer 205 is within the retail shoppingfacility 200 including the aforementioned parking area 204. Such anapproach can be useful, for example, when it is appropriate to limit theapplication of the present teachings to only the local environs andboundaries of the retail shopping facility 200 itself. When such is notthe case, this process can accommodate any of a variety of responses.Examples of responses can include temporal multitasking (pursuant towhich the control circuit 201 conducts other tasks before returning toagain monitor for these described events) as well as continually loopingback to essentially continuously monitor for the described event(s).These teachings also accommodate supporting this activity via areal-time interrupt capability.

Upon determining that the customer 205 is within the predetermineddistance and/or within a particular prescribed area, at decision block303 the control circuit 201 determines whether there is a retail itemavailable at the retail shopping facility 200 for pickup by the customer205. Generally speaking, such a retail item will be one that waspreviously ordered on behalf of the customer (for example, via an onlineshopping service operated by or on behalf of the retail shoppingfacility 200).

When both of the foregoing considerations are true (i.e., that thecustomer 205 has a retail item available for pickup at the retailshopping facility 200 and that the customer 205 is sufficiently proximalto the retail shopping facility 200), at block 304 the control circuit201 determines that a customer having a retail item available for pickupat the retail shopping facility is currently proximal to the retailshopping facility 200.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, in this illustrative example thecustomer 205 is within the parking area 204 of the retail shoppingfacility 200 and a retail item 207 as previously ordered on behalf ofthe customer 205 is presently available at the retail shopping facility200. In that case, at block 102 the control circuit 201 sends a message(for example, as an email, a text message, and/or as an in-app alert) tothe customer's mobile communications device 206. That message includesan opportunity for the customer to indicate that they will now pick upthe retail item 207 at the retail shopping facility 200. By one approachthe message includes within itself the specifics of that opportunity. Byanother approach the message includes that opportunity by including atrigger mechanism that prompts the customer's mobile communicationsdevice 206 to present that opportunity.

Referring momentarily to FIG. 4, by one approach the foregoing cancomprise presenting the customer 205, via a display as comprises a partof the mobile communications device 206, with a simple choice between afirst user-assertable button 401 to indicate that the customer 205 willpick up the item at this time and a second user-assertable button 402 toindicate that the customer 205 will not pick up the item at this time.By asserting one of these buttons 401 and 402, the customer 205 canprovide a simple selection as between these two options.

These teachings will accommodate other approaches in these regards. Forexample, a third option can be provided to permit the customer 205 toindicate that they will pick up the item, but in a delayed manner. Forexample, that optional response can include a field to permit thecustomer to enter a relevant timeframe. As a simple example in thoseregards, such an option could permit the customer to indicate that theywill pick up the item within 30 minutes.

Presuming the customer 205 provides a response to the aforementionedopportunity, at optional block 103 the control circuit 201 receivesinformation indicating that the customer utilized the opportunity toindicate that they (i.e., the customer 205) will now pick up the retailitem 207 at the retail shopping facility 200. (If the customer 205responds to the opportunity with an alternative response, theseteachings will of course accommodate having the control circuit 201 takean appropriate corresponding action. For example, when the customer 205elects to not pick up the retail item 207 at this time, the controlcircuit 201 can flag this customer 205 to not receive furtheropportunities in these regards for some predetermined amount of timesuch as 30 minutes, one hour, or the remainder of the day.)

When the customer 205 responds to the aforementioned opportunity byindicating that they will pick up the retail item 207 at this time, atoptional block 104 the control circuit 201 can transmit a message (via,for example, a wireless capability 209 available thereto) to at leastone associate 211 (via the associate's corresponding mobilecommunications device 210) to prompt the associate 211 to move theretail item 207 from a first area of the retail shopping facility 200(such as, for example, a non-public storage area 208 where the retailitem 207 has been stored) to a second area of the retail shoppingfacility 200 (such as a designated-area 212). The aforementioned messagecan comprise, for example, a voice message (such as a pre-recorded voicemessage or a text-to-speak synthesized-voice message), a text message,an email message, or the like.

So configured, as a customer 205 approaches the retail shopping facility200, with or without a present intent to receive the ordered retail item207, the control circuit 201 can be triggered to automatically providethe customer 205 with an opportunity to begin the item-retrieval processbefore the customer 205 arrives at, for example, a designated pick-area212. The control circuit 201 can also automatically prompt an associate211 to retrieve the retail item 207, again before the customer 205 haspresented themselves at the pick-up area 212 or even before the customer205 has necessarily entered the building itself. Accordingly, wait timesduring which the customer 205 must wait for their retail item 207 can,at least in many instances, be reduced or even essentially eliminated.

By one approach, at optional block 105 the control circuit 201 canmaintain a history (for example, in the aforementioned memory 202)regarding performance in the above-described regards. For example, thishistory can include information regarding at least one duration of timepertaining to making the retail item 207 available for pickup by thecustomer 205 at the retail shopping facility 200. By one approach thisduration of time can pertain to the time between when the associate 211receives the above-described prompt and when the retail item 207 arrivesin the pick-up area 212. Metrics in these regards can then be leveragedas desired to improve performance of the process. For example, it may beascertained through experience that waiting time for the customer at aparticular retail shopping facility 200 can be significantly reduced bymaking only a small adjustment to the aforementioned predetermineddistance threshold.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety ofmodifications, alterations, and combinations can be made with respect tothe above described embodiments without departing from the scope of theinvention, and that such modifications, alterations, and combinationsare to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventive concept. Asone example in these regards, a customer can be provided with anopportunity to participate in the above described notification practicewhen initially ordering the retail item. Accordingly, the customer canelect to opt out if they so wish.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a retail shoppingfacility; a network interface; a central computer system operablycoupled to the network interface and configured to: automaticallydetermine that a customer having a retail item available for pickup atthe retail shopping facility is currently proximal to the retailshopping facility and automatically responding to that determination bysending the customer a message wherein the message includes anopportunity for the customer to indicate that they will now pick up theretail item at the retail shopping facility.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1wherein the central computer system is configured to automaticallydetermine that the customer is currently proximal to the retail shoppingfacility by comparing a present location of the customer to apredetermined distance threshold.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 whereinthe central computer system is configured to receive, via the networkinterface, the information regarding the present location of thecustomer from a mobile communications device associated with thecustomer.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the retail item availablefor pickup at the retail shopping facility was ordered on behalf of thecustomer.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the retail item availablefor pickup at the retail shopping facility was ordered via an onlineshopping service.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the opportunityfor the customer to indicate that they will now pick up the retail itemat the retail shopping facility comprises a touch-based user interfaceon a mobile communications device associated with the customer.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the central computer system is furtherconfigured to: receive information indicating that the customer utilizedthe opportunity to indicate that they will now pick up the retail itemat the retail shopping facility.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein thecentral computer system is further configured to: transmit a message toat least one associate of the retail shopping facility to prompt theassociate to move the retail item from a first area of the retailshopping facility to a second area of the retail shopping facility. 9.The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the first area of the retail shoppingfacility comprises a non-public storage area.
 10. The apparatus of claim8 wherein the central computer system is further configured to: maintaina history regarding at least one duration of time pertaining to makingthe retail item available for pickup by the customer at the retailshopping facility.
 11. A method comprising: by a central computer systemfor a retail shopping facility that is operably coupled to the networkinterface: automatically determining that a customer having a retailitem available for pickup at the retail shopping facility is currentlyproximal to the retail shopping facility and automatically responding tothat determination by sending the customer a message wherein the messageincludes an opportunity for the customer to indicate that they will nowpick up the retail item at the retail shopping facility.
 12. The methodof claim 11 wherein automatically determining that the customer iscurrently proximal to the retail shopping facility comprises, at leastin part, comparing a present location of the customer to a predetermineddistance threshold.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein automaticallydetermining that the customer is currently proximal to the retailshopping facility comprises, at least in part, receiving informationregarding the present location of the customer from a mobilecommunications device associated with the customer.
 14. The method ofclaim 11 wherein the retail item available for pickup at the retailshopping facility was ordered on behalf of the customer.
 15. The methodof claim 14 wherein the retail item available for pickup at the retailshopping facility was ordered via an online shopping service.
 16. Themethod of claim 11 wherein the opportunity for the customer to indicatethat they will now pick up the retail item at the retail shoppingfacility comprises a touch-based user interface on a mobilecommunications device associated with the customer.
 17. The method ofclaim 11 further comprising: receiving information indicating that thecustomer utilized the opportunity to indicate that they will now pick upthe retail item at the retail shopping facility.
 18. The method of claim17 further comprising: transmitting a message to at least one associateof the retail shopping facility to prompt the associate to move theretail item from a first area of the retail shopping facility to asecond area of the retail shopping facility.
 19. The method of claim 18wherein the first area of the retail shopping facility comprises anon-public storage area.
 20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:maintaining a history regarding at least one duration of time pertainingto making the retail item available for pickup by the customer at theretail shopping facility.